A pilot study of the Moving On In My Recovery program for people in recovery from substance use.

This study pilot tested Moving On In My Recovery (MOIMR), a 12-session, acceptance-based, cognitive-behavioral, manual-guided group program for individuals in recovery from substance use. MOIMR aims to bridge the gap between formal treatment and sustained recovery. : Participants were 61 people in recovery from substance use and in the catchment area of the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, North Wales, United Kingdom.

Impulsivity, self-regulation, and response withholding in university-student drinkers.

This study was designed to determine how impulsivity, self-regulation, and response withholding are related to one another and to university students' drinking behavior. Participants ( = 108) completed measures of impulsivity, self-regulation, and alcohol consumption. In addition, a computerized Go/No Go task and a backward memory task were used to measure participants' behavioral impulsivity and their memory capacity.

Cognitive training and remediation interventions for substance use disorders: a Delphi consensus study.

Aims: Substance use disorders (SUD) are associated with cognitive deficits that are not always addressed in current treatments, and this hampers recovery. Cognitive training and remediation interventions are well suited to fill the gap for managing cognitive deficits in SUD. We aimed to reach consensus on recommendations for developing and applying these interventions.

Scary in the eye of the beholder: Attentional bias and attentional retraining for social anxiety.

Unlabelled: Consistent with cognitive models of social anxiety, socially anxious individuals show cognitive biases that magnify their perceived level of threat in the environment.

Objectives: The first objective was to determine whether attentional bias for socially threatening stimuli occurs after concomitant depression has been controlled. The second objective was to test the effectiveness of the Attention Control Training Program for Social Anxiety (ACTP-SA) for reducing social anxiety attentional bias and improving therapeutic indices in people with social anxiety.

Do I Really Want to Change? The Effectiveness of Goal Ambivalence Feedback on Dieters' Motivation.

Becoming committed to a new health-related goal and pursuing it is difficult for many people. The present study (a) developed and tested the psychometric properties of a brief Goal Ambivalence Scale (GAS) in a sample of dieters and (b) tested the effectiveness of providing dieters with feedback on their scores on the GAS. In Study 1, dieters ( = 334, 74% females) completed the GAS and a measure of Health-Related Concerns and Actions (HRCA).

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Attentional Control Training for Treating Alcohol Use Disorder.

There is consistent evidence that community and clinical samples of individuals with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) have attentional biases toward alcohol cues. The alcohol attentional control training program (AACTP) has shown promise for retraining these biases and decreasing alcohol consumption in community samples of excessive drinkers. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness of ACTP in clinical AUD samples.

Assessing current concerns and goals idiographically: A review of the Motivational Structure Questionnaire family of instruments.

Background: There have been two kinds of methods for assessing individuals' motivation and their goal-striving behavior. The idiographic method obtains respondents' individual descriptions of their behavior or inner experiences. The nomothetic approach uses a standardized questionnaire in which respondents select from a set of alternatives.

Identifying the Main Components of Substance-Related Addiction Recovery Groups.

Objectives: Mutual-aid groups are a central part of many individuals' recovery journeys from substance addiction, and this research aimed to identify the key ingredients of a diverse range of recovery groups.

Methods: Individuals from 30 different substance addiction recovery groups across the UK ( = 151, 66% male, age = 42.5 years) completed a survey, which asked participants to provide a narrative about their recovery group experiences.

Neurofeedback Training versus Treatment-as-Usual for Alcohol Dependence: Results of an Early-Phase Randomized Controlled Trial and Neuroimaging Correlates.

Introduction: Alcohol dependence is one of the most common substance use disorders, and novel treatment options are urgently needed. Neurofeedback training (NFT) based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtf-MRI) has emerged as an attractive candidate for add-on treatments in psychiatry, but its use in alcohol dependence has not been formally investigated in a clinical trial. We investigated the use of rtfMRI-based NFT to prevent relapse in alcohol dependence.

Accurately Estimating Alcohol Consumption: A Comparison of Self-Administrated and Interview Methods.

: There have been two methods of gaining retrospective self-report estimates of alcohol consumption, quantity frequency (QF) and retrospective diary (RD), offering distinct advantages and disadvantages. The typical and atypical drinking diary (TADD) was developed to benefit from each method's advantages. : To compare estimates obtained from the TADD with corresponding estimates obtained from a QF measure (Khavari alcohol test; KAT) and an RD measure, the timeline follow-back (TLFB).

An online cognitive bias task: the Rough Estimation Task using Qualtrics.

Measurement of cognitive bias typically relies on laboratory-based tasks. In order for cognitive bias measures to be useful outside of laboratory settings, a simple measure is required which does not rely on precise measurement tools, for example, precise reaction time measurement (which can be done only with specialized software typically running through either dedicated hardware or specifically configured computers). The Rough Estimation Task is a simple reading task which has been previously shown to be an effective measure of alcohol-related cognitive bias.

The Recovery Strengths Questionnaire for alcohol and drug use disorders.

Introduction And Aims: The Recovery Strengths Questionnaire (RSQ) is a 15-item self-report questionnaire that assesses an addicted individual's recovery strengths. This study aimed to validate the RSQ as a measure of recovery capital.

Design And Methods: As part of a larger study, 151 participants in addiction recovery groups from across the UK completed the RSQ.

A comparison between two retrospective alcohol consumption measures and the daily drinking diary method with university students.

Background: There are two main categories of retrospective self-report alcohol consumption measures: summary and daily drinking. Time-efficient summary measures have been criticized for being less able to capture sporadic and unpatterned drinking. A novel retrospective summary measure, the Typical and Atypical Drinking Diary (TADD), may produce more precise estimates of alcohol consumption than the gold-standard daily measure, the Timeline Followback (TLFB).

Ecological momentary assessment of food perceptions and eating behavior using a novel phone application in adults with or without obesity.

We developed a smart phone application to measure participants' food-reward perceptions and eating behavior in their naturalistic environment. Intensity ratings (0 - not at all to 10 - very strongly) of perceived anticipation of food (wanting) and food enjoyment at endpoint of intake (liking) were recorded as they occurred over a period of 14 days. Moreover, food craving trait, implicit and explicit attitude towards healthy food, and body composition were assessed.

Negative attentional bias for positive recovery-related words as a predictor of treatment success among individuals with an alcohol use disorder.

Introduction: This study assessed relationships between clients' attentional bias (AB) for different types of stimuli and their treatment outcomes. Alcohol AB during detoxification has previously been shown to predict relapse, but further research was needed to clarify this relationship. The current study determined whether AB for recovery-related words would also predict treatment outcome.

Free will in addictive behaviors: A matter of definition.

Certain people are at risk for using alcohol or other drugs excessively and for developing problems with their use. Their susceptibility might arise from a variety of factors, including their genetic make-up, brain chemistry, family background, personality and other psychological variables, and environmental and sociocultural variables. Moreover, after substance use has become established, there are additional cognitive-motivational variables (e.

Neurofeedback training for alcohol dependence versus treatment as usual: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) is used for neurofeedback training (NFT). Preliminary results suggest that it can help patients to control their symptoms. This study uses rtfMRI NFT for relapse prevention in alcohol dependence.

Effects of attention control training on drug abusers' attentional bias and treatment outcome.

Objective: Attentional bias for drug-related stimuli (Drug-AB) has been shown to play an important role in drug abuse, drug treatment, and relapse. This study sought to retrain Drug-AB using the Drug Attention Control Training Program (Drug-ACTP) on a sample of Iranian drug abusers.

Method: The experimental group (n = 24) received 3 sessions of training with the Drug-ACTP in addition to treatment as usual; the control group (n = 24) received only treatment as usual.

Neuroscience of attentional processes for addiction medicine: from brain mechanisms to practical considerations.

The present chapter first argues how having a goal for procuring alcohol or other substances leads to the development of a time-binding, dynamic, and goal oriented motivational state termed current concern, as the origin of substance-related attentional bias. Next, it discusses the importance of attentional bias in the development, continuation of, and relapsing to substance abuse. It further proceeds with a review of selective evidence from cognitive psychology that helps account for making decisions about using an addictive substance or refraining from using it.

Differential effects and temporal course of attentional and motivational training on excessive drinking.

Two cognitive-motivational variables that help to solidify drinkers' intentions to drink are their alcohol attentional bias and their maladaptive motivation. The Alcohol Attention Control Training Programme (AACTP) was designed to rectify the former, and the Life Enhancement and Advancement Programme (LEAP) was designed to rectify the latter. The present study used a factorial design to compare the individual and combined effects of the 2 interventions on mean weekly drinking and atypical weekly drinking of 148 harmful drinkers (49% males, mean age = 28.

The motivational basis of cognitive determinants of addictive behaviors.

If a person expects that (a) drinking alcohol or using another addictive substance will enhance positive affect or reduce negative affect, and (b) there is a strong likelihood that these desirable consequences will occur if the substance is used, that person is likely to form a goal of using the substance. The theoretical framework presented here predicts that when that happens, the person will have a current concern for using the substance, with the person thereby sensitized to environmental stimuli related to procuring and using the substance. One indication of the sensitization is selective attention to substance-related stimuli, which is correlated with urges to use and actual use of the substance.

Alcohol cognitive bias modification training for problem drinkers over the web.

Following successful outcomes of cognitive bias modification (CBM) programs for alcoholism in clinical and community samples, the present study investigated whether different varieties of CBM (attention control training and approach-bias re-training) could be delivered successfully in a fully automated web-based way and whether these interventions would help self-selected problem drinkers to reduce their drinking. Participants were recruited through online advertising, which resulted in 697 interested participants, of whom 615 were screened in. Of the 314 who initiated training, 136 completed a pretest, four sessions of computerized training and a posttest.